flattened fish-basket; and did not Muggles's cigarette-
case, cuff-buttons and seal ring bear a similar design?
And the wooden mantel in the great locked library,
and which was opened and dusted twice a year--the
books, not the mantel--did it not support a life-sized
portrait of the family bird done in wood, with three
diminutive storklets clamoring to be fed, their open
mouths out-thrust between their mother's breast and
the top edge of the fish-basket, enwreathed by a more
than graceful ribbon bearing the inscription, "We
feed the hungry"--or words to that effect?

None of these evidences of wealth and ancestry,
it must be said, ever impressed the group of scoffers
gathered about the wood fire of the "Ivy" in his
college days, or about the smart tables at the "Magnolia
Club" in his post-graduate life. To them he
was still "Mixey," or "Muddles," or "Muggles," or
"The Goat," depending entirely upon the peculiar
circumstances connected with the mixing up or the
butting in.

To his credit be it said the descendant of earls and
high-daddies never lost his temper at these onslaughts.
If Bender, or Podvine, or little Billy Salters pitched
into him for some act of stupidity--due entirely to
his misguided efforts to serve some mutual friend--
Muggles would argue, defend and protest, but the
discussion would always end with a laugh and his
signing the waiter's check and ordering another one